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WHY WE BLOAT AND WAYS TO CURE IT

Written By
Camilla Akerberg
13 Oct 2018

Bloating can happen to anyone and for varies reasons. It’s an uncomfortable feeling that ruins your day and the way your clothing fit. In the morning, if you’re clothes fit perfectly but the end of the day they feel constricted, bloating is the culprit.

Causes of Bloating

As stated earlier, there are many reasons why bloating can occur.

#1: Constipation

Being regular helps regulate your gut. Removing the toxins out is a natural process and when your gut is filled and the toxins are just sitting there, it can cause you to bloat. Being constipated is not fun at all and makes for an uncomfortable feeling. Common illnesses that cause this are irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, where the large intestines are affected and have symptoms such as cramping, abdominal pain, a lot of bloating, gas and/or diarrhea or constipation. There is also gastroparesis, which are the nerves that control your stomach where they slowly process breaking down the food and slow to empty it out. This can also cause bloating while the food is slowly being grinded up and passed down into the intestines.

Cures for Constipation

Some remedies that can help with comfort and the terrible bloating is drinking a lot of water. Water will help the food move a long smoother in your stomach and intestines which allows you to expel the waste and removing the bloat and gas that comes with that.

Another remedy is fiber! You should always have high fiber intake regardless of being constipated or not. Eating a lot of fibers help you keep regular. There are soluble and insoluble fibers, each is good for constipated individuals. Fiber is typically found in plants and is a carbohydrate and isn’t easily digested but helps move things along in your gut. Remember, a clean gut is a happy and bloat-free gut! Some healthy tips for taking in more fiber are making sure to eat whole grains as often as you can. Opt out of white bread and get whole grains bread instead. Another healthy tip is having ground flaxseed on a daily basis and you can easily incorporate this in your meals. Add it to your smoothie, a soup or when you bake. Thirdly, eat beans. This natural healthy tip is sure to help. However if beans make you bloat, then you should avoid this.

Exercising is also a natural remedy to help move things along in your intestines and helps reduce bloating greatly! Running, weight training, circuits and simply moving around helps keep the bloat down. A healthy tip to remember is you should always incorporate exercise in your life.

#2: Foods that Cause you to Bloat

Some of the foods we eat and enjoy unfortunately may cause bloating. Some foods that may cause bloating are:

beans or legumes

lentils

pop or carbonated and fizzy drinks

broccoli

onions

chocolate

wheat, barley

sugars

alcohol

Just to name a few. This immensely depends on the person. Some may bloat to some of these foods while others may not. A good way to determine what foods make you bloat is to write down every time you feel bloated when you eat something. Let’s say you just had dinner and your meal consisted of steak, broccoli salad and a baked potato. If you felt bloated, write those 3 things down. The next day you took some of that broccoli salad for your lunch and you began to bloat, write it down again and keep track of the foods that made you bloat. You’ll eventually see a pattern. This may take time, but it sure helps when it comes to being aware of the foodsthat make you bloat and then eliminating them from your diet.

Cures for Foods that make you Bloat

As stated, once you find out what foods make you bloat, it’s best to just eliminate it. But like broccoli, because they’re so healthy, ensure you replace them with some other foods that will have the majority of the nutrients that broccoli contains. You don’t want to lag behind in nutrients due to bloating either. But let’s say alcohol makes you bloat; do not hesitate to remove that from your life.

Alcohol is an example of something that can make you bloat and provides no healthy additives to your intake or your life. Some healthy advice on foods that make you bloat is it’s also best to talk to your doctor about the possibility of a diet change to reduce or eliminate bloating to help you better understand and possibly find out sooner who the culprits that cause you to bloat.

#3: Sodium Intake

Unfortunately for millions, the amount of salt we take in every day is astounding, startling and should terrify us. Too much salt is not good and of course eating too much of it can cause water retention. Water retention due to high sodium in your body is sure to cause bloating. Salt, sadly, is found in just about anything processed that we eat. Packaged and processed food goes hand-in-hand with each other. Another sad fact is that when salt speeds up the retaining water, it mainly holds it around the abdominal area, which is our stomach and gut area.

Cures for Bloating when Sodium is the Cause

One simple and very healthy tip is to lower your salt intake. While it’s okay to eat salty snacks once in a while, it should be kept as a snack and not eaten in your every day meals. Limit or completely terminate the use and intake of salt.

Avoid eating packaged or processed food. And if you must, limit it greatly. By reading the labels carefully you can calculate how much salt you’re taking in a day if you’re eating processed foods. By calculating and tracking your sodium intake you’ll be sure how much you’re having daily and once you reduce it, the bloat will diminish along with it. A healthy tip to keep in mind is replace eating process foods with eating more raw veggies, fruits and make making your meals part of your lifestyle. This way, you’re controlling what goes in your food and you can reduce the bloat and have a healthier diet.

In the end, you can make changes in your lifestyle that will reduce or stop the bloating, but you should also do these healthy changes to live healthier. Combining these cures will make positive changes in your life and always remember, when you bloat, pay attention to it as it is your body’s way of trying to convey a message to you.